Europe

Clariant has inaugurated what is said to be
Germanys biggest pilot plant for producing
climate-friendly cellulose ethanol from agricultural waste.
Located in Straubing, Bavaria, and supported by the Bavarian
government and the Federal Ministry for Education and Research,
the futuristic project will produce up to 1,000
tons of cellulose ethanol from around 4,500 tons of
wheat straw based on Clariants sunliquid technology. It represents an
investment of around 28 million. The sunliquid process is
an innovative biotechnological method that turns plant waste
products, such as grain straw and corn straw, into
second-generation cellulose ethanol.

Marquard & Bahls, through its
subsidiary Bomin, and The Linde
Group, will establish a joint-venture (JV) company to
build infrastructure for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europes maritime sector. The
transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant
antitrust authorities. The 50/50 JV is due to start its
operations in the latter part of 2012, with its headquarters
based in Hamburg, Germany.

The JV will set out to establish an LNG supply chain and to
provide reliable, safe and environmentally friendly fuel to
ship owners and operators. Linde will contribute its vast
experience in cryogenics and its best-in-class engineering
know-how, while Bomin will support the JV with its excellent
track record in maritime bunker-fuel trading and operations.
The new company will establish operations in a number of key
ports throughout the so-called emission control
areas in Northwest Europe.

CB&I has an award from
BASF for the engineering, procurement and construction management of a new
butadiene-extraction plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The contract,
which is valued in excess of $50 million, is an essential part
of the total BASF investment amount, which will be in the high
double-digit million euro range. The plant is scheduled to
start up during 2014.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has a
five-year enterprise frame agreement (EFA) from Shell
Global Solutions International B.V. to provide
engineering and project management services to Shells
European downstream assets.

The contract has the options to be renewed for an additional
five years and/or to be extended to other Shell businesses such
as upstream, and beyond Europe to the Middle East and
Africa. Under the EFA, Jacobs will provide services ranging
from feasibility studies and small plant modifications to
discrete projects for Shells major refining and chemical sites in
Pernis, The Netherlands, and in Rhineland, Germany.

UOP LLC, a Honeywell
company, has been selected by Lukoil to
provide technology to produce blending components used to make
high-octane gasoline and petrochemicals at Lukoils
facility in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

Lukoil will license an integrated suite of Honeywells
UOP technologies to produce high-quality gasoline-blending
components, propylene and other petrochemicals.

The new units, expected to start up in 2015, will produce
more than 1 million metric tpy of gasoline-blending components
and more than 170,000 metric tpy of propylene. In addition to
technology licensing,
Honeywells UOP and a number of its affiliates will
provide engineering design, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment,
staff training and technical service for the project.

LANXESS has chosen Burckhardt
Compression to deliver one process gas compressor for
its chemical production site in Leverkusen, Germany. The
compressor will be used to compress ethylene from 17 bara to
495 bara. In addition, Burckhardt Compression (Deutschland)
GmbH has been awarded an order from LANXESS to revamp two
existing process gas compressors.

A gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Uzbekistan was named OLTIN
YOL GTL at a formal ceremony in Tashkent involving
representatives from the three joint-venture (JV) companies:
Uzbekneftegaz, Sasol and
PETRONAS.

The naming of the JV project followed a ceremony to mark the
start of infrastructure development by the Government
of Uzbekistan at the proposed GTL plant site at
Shurtan in the south of Uzbekistan. It also aimed at supporting
the project schedule to enable a final investment decision,
which is expected during the second half of 2013.

When commissioned, the 38,000-bpd plant will produce a
combination of GTL diesel and GTL naphtha and, in an important
development in the application of GTL fuels, GTL kerosine for
the aviation sector.

Neste Oil has completed the first phase of
its project to build a pilot plant for
producing microbial oil. Plant construction is on schedule and on
budget. The first phase will enable the growth of oil-producing
microorganisms, and the following phases will concentrate on
raw material pretreatment and oil recovery. The goal is to
develop the technology so that it is capable of yielding
commercial volumes of microbial oil for use as a feedstock for NExBTL renewable
diesel. Commercial-scale production is expected by 2015 at the
earliest.

The pilot plant is expected to be fully complete in the
second half of 2012, and it represents an investment of
approximately 8 million by Neste Oil.

Microbial oil technology is attractive because of its
efficiency and sustainability. Neste Oil has
carried out pioneering research in the field and has applied
for numerous patents covering its microbial oil technology. A
number of partners have been involved in this work, including
Aalto University.

In May 2012, ThyssenKrupp Uhde won a
front-end-engineering and design contract for a single-train
polypropylene (PP) plant based on
LyondellBasells Spheripol process technology for
ZapSibNeftekhim L.L.C, a wholly owned
subsidiary of SIBUR.

The 500,000-tpy plant is planned to be constructed in
Tobolsk, Russian. The plant will produce a wide range of
high-quality PP brands.

Evonik Industries has laid the foundation
stone for a new, large plant to produce functionalized
polybutadienes in Marl, Germany. The plant, with a capacity of
several thousand metric tpy, is scheduled for completion in
mid-2013. The investment, in the companys largest
production site worldwide, is in the mid double-digit million
euro range.

The new plant can make optimum use of the existing
infrastructure and raw material supplies, and utilize synergies
with the current polybutadiene plants in the Marl Chemical
Park. HP

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